Compass



R. E. BIBBINS.

COMPASS.

APPLICATION FILED JuLYsI.1920.

1,385,423. Patented July 26, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT ot'FlcE.

ROYAL E. BIBBINS, OF NEW YOBg, N. Y.

COMIPASS.

T 0 all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, RO AL E. BIBBINs, a citizen of the United States, and a rpsident of the city, county, and State of New York, (whose post-oflice address 1s 1133 Broadway, New York c1ty,) have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Compasses, of which the following 15 a spec1- fication.

The object of my invention is to provide a device which shall serve as a reliable, commercial compass whether on land, or sea, or when carried by an aeroplane or other a r vessel, and shall have as few parts as posslble, be free from frictional bearings, and shall have no gearing, cogs, or complicated partsof any kind, to get out of order or ad justment.

The main underlying feature of my 1mproved compass is thatall thernovable parts are suspended in air by the actlon of'the a1r itself ;each suspended part having its special function in controlling the operation of the device, whether in taking up and responding to-the constant and uniform rotative motions of the earth or in resisting and making compensation for the sudden irregular motions of the vessel or other conv'eyance on which the compass is carried from place to placeaboutthe earths surface. Y I

My invention consists broadly of a sta tionary base-cup by and through'which the necessary supporting and driving air supply is fed to the movable devices of, the compass, an intermediate floating carrier or vessel adapted and shaped to rest in said base cup when stationary and to float there in "when raised by the supporting air, a removable and adjustable cover for said .ves-- sel, and a ball adapted to be located inside said vessel when'co-veredand to spin freely and effectively therein when and as acted upon by the air which is fed to said covered vessel by said base cup. l v

It will be understood that in order to bring about the desired compass action of these associated parts, a proper system of inlets and .d1scharge outlets for the compressed air which is used to secure the stabilit and effective co-ntrolof the spinning bal as to its compass actiomand its necessary precession to the meridian, must be provided. But the details and arrangement of these inlets and outlets are siisaeptilale of great variation, according to thegspecific needs of the 1920. Serial No. 400,323.

instrument and they must be capable of very delicate adjustment, to those needs.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated the simplest and most effective type of compass which I have as yet devised embodying the above invention Figure 1, is a top plan.

Fig. 2, is a front elevation.

Fig. 3, is a vertical section on line A- A. of Flg. 1.

Same letters indicate similar parts in the various figures.

A, is the base cup which is adapted and intended to be mounted uponv some fixed sup- Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 26, 1921, Application filed July 31,

port so that its motion through space in obedience tothe rotation of the earth, will he the same as that of any other so-called fixed object. This base cup is held poised by gimbal rings or other devices capable of adapting themselves to the swaying .or

swinging motions of the ship or other vessel on which the compass is to be carried and to the constant turning of the earth on its axis, as well as to sudden shocks or jars from whatever cause. As is well lmown the purpose of thus supporting the base cup is to keep it apparently always levelcr balanced horizontally, and through this base cup a passage or channel a, isinadc to per unit the passage oi air under pressure from a source of supply, not shown, to the hemi spherical chamber lit, constituting the cup part of said base. It is to be understood that the inner surface of this cupeh med chamber must be made as smooth, iniiform and frictionless as art can make it, so that the air passing therethrough, as hereaa explained, shall not meet any, even mien scopically minute, projections or depressions to deflect its course.

C, is the intermediate floating carrier or vessel which as shown is a delicately molded shell, pierced by the air passage 0, cl, e, and terminating in the nozzle, ,1", and having both its outer and inner surfaces as smooth frictionless as shill can make them. vessel is-preferably made of aluminum, and requires great accuracy in its construction. The function of this vessel isto receive and compensate, as it were, the unavoidable tendency of variations in the tip of the base cup and consequently variationsin the delivery of the supporting and driving air, to cause corresponding variations in the action of the drivenball D, which, as shown, closely fits in said floating vessel without contact therethe ice

' ing the cover to press enables said carrier to compensate, as before stated, for the variations received by the carrier from the base-cup but, by th1s means,

not permittedto act unfavorably to its compass action, upon the spinning ball D-. Obviously the peri 'hery of this ball must be uniformly smoot and great care is needed thereby in its manufacture.

E 1s the cover of the carrier, provided with an expanded vizor-piece for the escape of the used air F. The cover is adjustably secured to the carrier, preferably,-by allowdow'nwardly under gravity upon a threaded ring g,- upon said carrier and making this ring adjustable on said carrier to vary in great delicacy the space through which the air is admitted under the cover and over the spinning ball.

A threaded ring it, upon the upper edge of the base cup' adjustably controls the outlet of the air from the space between the under side of the carrier and the'concave surface of the cup-chamber.

As shown the cover E has a broad flange i I of an annular character upon which the usual compa cured.

. The operation of my proved compass.

in actual practice is as follows 7 When the compass is setup in a ships bmnacle or otherwise as occasion .requlres,

through the medium of the air" ss card may be placed and se-' the device is so placed that the vizor F is toward the east, and the as-to deliver the air toward the. west on the under side of the ball D. ,Under the impetus of the constantly supplied air the ball will spin with proportionate rapidity in the direetlon of the arrow, that is, from west to east, exactly as the earth spins. The axis of the spinnin ball will therefore be directly north an south. By setting the com- Eass card on the cover flange of the cover so that the north point corresponds with the extremity of the balls axis, the north and south line will keep to the meridian as long as the spinning ball continues to revolve upon an unchanged axis, and this axis will not change so long as the speed of r0- tation of the ball is maintained. The pull of the inertia thus maintained in the ball upon the povered vessel in which it turns will be found at all times suflicient to draw back that vessel and consequently the compass card to the stabilized position whenever any outside shock or cause displaces or tends o displace said vessel from its normal relation to the spinning ball.

I claim A compass which comprises a base cup adapted to permit a supply of air to pass therethrough to the chamber of said cup, a floating vessel adapted and shaped to rest in said base cup when stationary and to float therein when raised by the supporting air, a-removable and adjustable cover for sa d vessel, and a ball adapted to be located inside said vessel when covered and to spin freely and effectively therein when, and as, acted upon by the air fed to said vessel through said base cup.

ROYAL E BIBBINs.

nozzle 1, is so set 

